


Life, in fragments

by Shaded Mazoku (Ashkaztra)



Series: Fragmented [3]
Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: 1 Sentence Fiction, Community: 1sentence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-28
Updated: 2011-04-28
Packaged: 2017-10-18 18:32:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashkaztra/pseuds/Shaded%20Mazoku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life is a multi-faceted thing, made from myriads of fragile little pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life, in fragments

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 1sentence on LJ's Delta theme set.

#01 – Air: Leo wonders when he stopped worrying and started thinking it was oddly cute when he found that Kefka had once again scaled the rigging on the airship and was halfway hanging off of it.

#02 – Apples: He catches the juicy-looking red apple Kefka tosses at him instinctively, but only once he's taken a bite of it does he remember the story Kefka was telling Terra the other day, about a princess and a poisoned apple, and he drops the fruit as though it burns while Kefka laughs at him.

#03 – Beginning: The first time Leo meets Kefka, he accidentally ends up picking a fight with him, which pretty much sets the precedent for their relationship.

#04 – Bugs: Kefka has a fascination with spiders that'd bother Leo a lot less if he didn't keep waking up with brilliantly coloured spiders crawling all over him.

#05 – Coffee: Until he got involved with Kefka, Leo never understood he allure of coffee.

#06 – Dark: Sometimes, after the lights have been turned off, Leo watches Kefka's eyes glow slightly in the dark and wonders if he knows about it.

#07 – Despair: There are days where Leo just wants to lock himself up and forget all about Kefka and their hopeless relationship, but he could never allow himself to take such an easy way out.

#08 – Doors: The doors in the palace in Vector are all heavy oak, reinforced with steel, and whenever they have an argument that causes Kefka to slam one of those doors in anger, a frequent occurrence, the entire palace can hear it.

#09 – Drink: Leo learns early why Kefka usually doesn't drink; at a party where the served punch gets increasingly stronger all night, something startles Kefka at one point and his drink bursts into flame.

#10 – Duty: If released from his duties, Leo likes to think he'd have left the Empire behind, maybe joined the Domans or something similar, but then he catches a glimpse of bright coloured scarves flowing in the corner of his eyes and knows he is bound by more than just his duties.

#11 – Earth: The ground under his feet and the solid stone and steel walls around him was all he need; let Kefka chase the intangible dreams of the Empire.

#12 – End: It wasn't suppose to end like that, and Kefka hates Leo for forcing his hand, ruining his plans like that.

#13 – Fall: The tower is collapsing around him and he's falling, wings beating wildly in vain to stop his fall, and for a moment, he can almost hear Leo's voice calling him.

#14 – Fire: Leo's heard it said that the candle that burns the brightest burns out the fastest, and when he thinks about it, he pulls Kefka closer into his arms, buries his face in his hair and refuses to let him go.

#15 – Flexible: Looking at where Kefka has somehow fitted himself into a tiny little nook in the wall, Leo makes a mental note to ask the scientists if there's cat somewhere in Kefka's infusions (and then tries really hard to not blush at the implications of that flexibility).

#16 – Flying: Even as amazing as it is to fly using nothing but his own powers, all three sets of wings working in unison to drive him forwards, Kefka can't help but think that the white-feathered wings should have been attached to dark-skinned and broad shoulders that he had mapped every inch of.

#17 – Food: Kefka eats far more than his skinny little frame should be able to hold, but Leo enjoys watching him eat too much to comment.

#18 – Foot: Watching their entangled limbs, Leo is deeply fascinated at the contrasts; Kefka's feet are smaller, more slender and pale to the point of being white against Leo's dark skin and large feet, but when he mentions it to Kefka, the other man kicks him.

#19 – Grave: The first time she returns to Leo's grave after the final battle, Terra's surprised to find long strands of golden hair braided and twined around the sword there, moss recently scraped from the name.

#20 – Green: Though they both favour green a lot, they mutually decide never to try to dress in the dark again; Kefka nearly swims in Leo's coat and Leo can't even fit in Kefka's.

#21 – Head: This was not what he had in mind when he'd joined the military, Leo thinks, watching in growing horror as Kefka uses his magic to rain fire on the enemy from afar, forever altering Leo's views of the Empire and its ways.

#22 – Hollow: Kefka enjoys spying on people, oddly adept at it despite the bright colours he surrounds himself with, but, upon hearing a group of females discussing love, he stops listening and goes to demand Leo's attention until he can forget that he can't feel that way, that his insides is now nothing but empty space to be filled with magic.

#23 – Honor: His absurd sense of honour would cost him his life one day, Kefka once said, and, as Leo lies bleeding on the ground in Thamasa, it turns out he was right.

#24 – Hope: The last night before Leo's due to depart for Thamasa, Kefka all but crawls into his lap and seeks his attention for the first time in years, igniting a little kindle of hope in Leo that with time, maybe even Kefka's broken mind will heal.

#25 – Light: When he finishes the Light of Judgement, Kefka throws his head back and laughs in triumph, but the victory seems so empty without Leo to condemn his actions.

#26 – Lost: After they both agree that the map their researchers had provided were spectacularly terrible, Leo watches in horrified fascination as Kefka skillfully turns the map into a paper umbrella, siting the reason as it being more useful that way.

#27 – Metal: Theirs is a steel alloy world, two different entities molded together to forge something new, something never seen before, tempered in war and honed in their preciously few moments alone together after all is said and done, away from all who wish to see if the newly forged alloy will turn brittle and crumble.

#28 – New: The green-haired girl is a new addition to their dynamic; Kefka brings her everywhere like a proud child with a new favourite toy and Leo can't tell if the painful feeling in his stomach is outrage at this treatment of a child, from both Kefka and the rest of the Empire, or if it's because he's jealous that he's no longer the center of Kefka's attentions.

#29 – Old: But when the night falls, Terra is put away, like a doll on a shelf, forgotten to the next morning, and Kefka crawls into Leo's arms and seeks his company.

#30 – Peace: If we ever have peace, Kefka tells Leo, the Magitek project will be dismantled, too dangerous to exist, and that is why he'll never let peace become a reality.

#31 – Poison: When Leo first learns that with the blood of a particularly noxious Esper has been infused into Kefka's veins, he can't help laughing as it explains so much about the other man; not only animals have warning colours.

#32 – Pretty: Face paint, Leo reflects, is often worn by women to emphasise their looks, but Kefka wears it as a mask to hide a face that could nearly pass for being pretty were it not for the ways his too-pale eyes glow with something that can only be called insanity.

#33 – Rain: Kefka brings Leo an umbrella one day, as Leo stands in the training yard, watching his men do their drills, and they share the shelter in silence for a while, just listening to the rain bouncing off the oiled fabric and drowning out all other sounds.

#34 – Regret: “If I had enough humanity left to regret things,” Kefka says to the air one day, standing on the top of his tower, “I'd have regretted killing you, I think.”

#35 – Roses: Leo brings Kefka a dozen red roses one day, feeling extremely foolish and leaving shortly afterwards; Kefka boils the plucked rose petals and makes a deep crimson ink, smiling at the memory of Leo's embarrassed delivery as he writes orders for prisoners to be executed.

#36 – Secret: Their relationship is the worst-kept secret in the Empire, but with only the Emperor in a position to do anything about it, neither of them much feel like being subtle.

#37 – Snakes: A bright flash of colour is the only hint Leo gets, and only instinct lets him grab the little snake; Kefka, of course, finds the six-inch killer fascinating and wears it as a hair decoration for days until the Emperor finds it in his soup.

#38 – Snow: It doesn't snow in Vector, and the snow outside is probably just another attempt from the Esper minds in his to drive him crazy, but just in case it should be true, Kefka crawls pretty much into Leo's coat while the other man still wears it and refuses to move.

#39 – Solid: There are brick walls less yielding than Leo's well-trained body, a fact that Kefka greatly appreciates, especially since Leo is much warmer and softer than a brick wall would be.

#40 – Spring: One year, a particularly nasty pollen spread proves that even Kefka's augmented systems, much to Leo's amusement, aren't immune to hay fever; within the next week, the four closest forests to the city have been burned to the ground.

#41 – Stable: It's not an enviable situation Leo is in; having to be stable enough for them both.

#42 – Strange: “You're strange,” Kefka tells Leo one day, as they're working on a report, and Leo has to bite his lip to not burst out laughing at the sheer irony of that statement.

#43 – Summer: The summers in Vector are warm and sticky hot, making everyone miserable except Kefka and Celes, both of them having ice magic in their veins, and though Leo usually hates having magic used on him, he's all too happy to lay back and let Kefka freeze the air around him for a few minutes.

#44 – Taboo: Their relationship doesn't really cause many lifted eyebrows until the day where someone points out that Kefka is barely human any more; after that, the stares become accusing and cloying, until Leo watches his lover ignore them all in favour of boiling his tea directly in his cup, as if it never mattered.

#45 – Ugly: It's no denying that their relationship is an ugly, infected thing, but at least they're honest about it.

#46 – War: Leo sees war as an unfortunate necessity that he'd prefer to end as quickly as possible, but Kefka sees it as an endless source of entertainment and opportunities, and eventually, the war has settled within them, and they both know there's no going back.

#47 – Water: Just because Kefka doesn't like water, Leo notes, doesn't mean he should tease him while in the water himself, unless he learns to enjoy being wrapped in ice.

#48 – Welcome: Officially, Kefka welcomes Leo to his new position by buying him dinner; unofficially, he already made the welcome by quietly removing the previous holder of said position.

#49 – Winter: It doesn't matter how gorgeous the snow looks when falling on Leo's dark skin, Kefka decides, he's still never going to Narshe again, especially not in winter.

#50 – Wood: The broken headboard is covered in deep scratches, splintered in multiple places, and has some odd scorch marks; looking at it, Kefka chuckles, prods the still mortified Leo and vows to have it replaced in steel.


End file.
